Fellows in Creative Writing

Rodríguez, José Mario

José Mario Rodríguez (b. 1940, Güira de Melena - d. 2002, Madrid): Known professionally as José Mario, Rodríguez authored a volume of children’s plays and more than a dozen poetry collections, among them Clamor agudo, La torcida raíz de tanto daño and Muerte del amor por la soledad. An anthology of his poetry, El grito y otros poemas, was published by Betania in 2000. He was one of the founders Ediciones El Puente, which published the work of young writers in Cuba during the 1960s, but was eventually shut down by the Cuban government. Rodríguez revived El Puente in 1968 after he moved to Madrid, where he also founded Ediciones La Gota de Agua. Reporting on his death, Madrid’s El País newspaper called him “one of the indispensable figures of Cuban poetry during the second half of the 20th century” (Cintas for literature, 1972-73, 1973-74)